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TSS Host: This is The Sweet Spot where we take a closer look at the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona. I’m Austin Hepola and welcome to your weekly intake of Sports stories from across the Valley. Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: The Suns take shape, the Wildcats take a loss, Mountain Pointe takes in transfers”
By Lux Butler
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Arizona legislators said they are “disappointed” that the state has agreed to pay for gender-affirming surgeries for state employees in a consent decree that settles years of class action litigation by a University of Arizona professor.
The consent decree, approved last week by a federal district court judge in Tucson, comes months after Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order reversing a previous state policy that had prohibited the procedures as part of the state’s health insurance plan. Advocates said the court order will have the effect of making Hobbs’ order permanent. Continue reading “Arizona agrees to pay for gender-affirming surgery for state employees”
By Walker Smith
Cronkite News
TEMPE – Eight days. Who knew that eight days in late 2022 would help inject life into a Pac-12 college football season that was supposed to be defined by the conference’s demise?
On Nov. 26, Arizona State hired Kenny Dillingham, 32, the youngest coach in the Power 5. The decision was widely praised but also scrutinized because of Dillingham’s young age and lack of head coaching experience.
On Dec. 3, Colorado hired Deion Sanders, the flashy and unguarded former NFL star who touched down in Boulder with the force of the tornadoes that often invade the state’s eastern plains. Continue reading “8 days: How side-by-side hirings of Sanders, Dillingham helped inject life into Pac-12”
By Jordy Fee-Platt
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Zach Graefser was a baseball coach at St. Louis Community College for eight years. He loved developing players and watching them take the next step. But in 2014, his life took a dramatic turn, one that completely changed his life.
Graefser was offered an opportunity to work with MLB International, an organization that looks to promote the game of baseball abroad. The position required him to leave everything he knew behind and move to London. He decided to take the leap of faith and has lived in the UK ever since. Continue reading “MLB brings global stars of future to Phoenix for international showcase event”
By Sebastian Sanchez
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Mat Ishbia is on a mission to revolutionize the basketball culture in Phoenix.
On Thursday, the owner of the Suns and Mercury announced a $100 million commitment to construct a 123,000-square-foot headquarters and practice facility in Downtown Phoenix.
This significant development will grant the Mercury exclusive access to their own facility, no longer sharing the Verizon 5G Performance Center with the Suns. Continue reading “Culture change: Mat Ishbia invests $100 million in new practice facility for Phoenix Mercury”
By Caitlin Fowble
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Just as the puck is about to drop on a new season of Arizona State hockey, the Sun Devils are celebrating a major win in a different arena.
After nearly a decade as a Division I independent hockey program, ASU’s men’s team will officially join the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) as its ninth member starting in the 2024-25 season. That means this season, which begins Friday with a home game against the University of Arizona, will be the Devils’ last as an independent team. Continue reading “A different kind of win: ASU men’s hockey ends independence, joins NCHC for 2024 season”
By Elise Catrion Gregg
News21
MIAMI – Former Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren never imagined that signing a letter would cost him his job.
Warren joined dozens of elected prosecutors nationwide last summer in condemning the criminalization of abortion post Roe v. Wade. Their public statement said, in part, “prosecutors have a responsibility to refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions.”
In response, Gov. Ron DeSantis used an executive order to suspend him as state attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit, covering Hillsborough County – Florida’s fourth-most populous – which includes the city of Tampa. Continue reading “Abortion debate spurs new efforts to restrict prosecutorial discretion”
By Alexandria Cullen and Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration reversed course Thursday and said it would resume border wall construction, citing an “acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers” at the southern border to handle record-breaking numbers of immigrants.
The announcement by the Department of Homeland Security said it would waive 26 environmental and other regulations and use previously allocated funds to construct roads and “border barriers” along the Texas border, in the Rio Grande sector.
It is an abrupt change in direction for President Joe Biden, who halted wall construction on his first day in office, saying it was “not a serious policy solution” and a “waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.” Continue reading “Biden administration reverses course, resumes border wall construction”
By John Leos
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Sandra Noemy Chacón Hernández couldn’t sleep at night, couldn’t leave her home except to go to work and was constantly fighting with her teenage daughter. She says she immigrated with her children to the United States from El Salvador in 2016 to escape an abusive partner, but instead of finding a safe haven in her Arizona home, she found herself isolated, depressed, and searching for help.
For many Spanish speakers, like Hernández, finding affordable and accessible mental health care in Phoenix can be nearly impossible. The Hispanic population became the largest racial demographic in the city in 2021, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, but a recent study found that the availability of Spanish-language mental health care treatments in Arizona is trending downward.
By Adrienne Washington and Alexandria Cullen
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration said Wednesday that it has cleared the way for another $9 billion in student debt relief for as many as 125,000 borrowers – 11,700 of them in Arizona.
The savings, which will come through changes to existing debt relief programs, would save Arizona borrowers an estimated $840 million, according to the Education Department. Advocates said that will likely come as good news to the 917,300 borrowers in the state who owed $32.5 billion as of June 30, according to department data. Continue reading “Latest student debt relief plan could save 11,700 Arizonans $840 million”
EDS: An earlier version of this story misstated the scope of this fall’s teacher shortage. The errors occurred throughout the story and in the graphic. Clients who used previous versions are asked to replace them with the text and graphic below, which have been corrected, and to run the correction found here.
By Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Nearly one-third of teacher vacancies in Arizona public and charter schools were still unfilled one month into the school year, according to a new report, the most in eight years of data on school vacancies.
The Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association report for the 2023-24 school year said that of the 7,518.3 open teacher positions this fall, 2,229.7 were still unfilled as of September, or 29.7% of the openings. That is up from 26.9% at the same time last year. Continue reading “Nearly a third of teacher vacancies went unfilled this fall, most in 8 years”
By Alyssa Bickle
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – A bipartisan group of housing reform advocates, from current and former state lawmakers to government leaders, gathered last Thursday to talk about the lack of affordable housing in Arizona and solutions.
The event was organized by nonpartisan nonprofit Arizona Talks with the aim of facilitating civil dialogue about affordable housing. Most of the speakers touched on how the issue is a personal one and requires bipartisan solutions.
“We all have a housing story, even if you are unsheltered, we all understand the importance and value of housing,” said Joan Serviss, who leads the Arizona Department of Housing. Continue reading “‘Eternally complex problems’: Bipartisan advocates talk affordable housing”
By Renee Romo and Alexandria Cullen
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane were among the eight conservative Republicans who voted with all House Democrats Tuesday to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the first time in history a sitting speaker has been removed.
The 216-210 vote could paralyze the House – it took 15 ballots for Republicans to elect McCarthy speaker earlier this year – at a time when Congress has a little more than six weeks to pass a fiscal 2024 budget or face another potential government shutdown. Continue reading “Biggs, Crane join Democrats in historic vote to oust McCarthy as speaker”
By Deanna Pistono
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – A fire that broke out at a landfill at about 4 p.m. Saturday on the Salt River Indian Reservation, near N. Beeline Highway east of Scottsdale, had been reduced to a smolder by Tuesday afternoon.
After firefighters were done combating the blaze, said Chuck Kmet, emergency manager for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a green waste contractor was hired to help further manage the remaining smolder.
Though the flame has been stifled, the lingering smoke may cause or exacerbate various health concerns, one expert said.
Continue reading “Smoke from the Salt River landfill fire could cause health problems”
By Reagan Priest
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Arizona veterans groups say state agencies are unfairly cracking down on electronic bingo cards, while state agencies say agents are only conducting inspections to prevent the use of illegal bingo machines.
At a news conference at the Arizona Capitol on Monday, several members of local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts were joined by Republican Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli, who said the departments of Revenue, Gaming, and Liquor are conducting raids and harassing organizations for their use of bingo technological aids.
Bingo technological aids, or BTAs, are electronic bingo cards that assist bingo players with disabilities and have been legal since 2017. The state says these organizations are not being penalized for using BTAs, but for using bingo gambling machines, which resemble slot machines and can be played without other players present.
By Renee Romo
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court will hear the appeal of an Arizona man who said his right to confront his accuser was violated when the expert witness who tested the drugs in his case was replaced by another expert.
Jason Smith was convicted in part on the testimony of Greggory Longoni, who testified using reports filed by Elizabeth Rast, the Arizona Department of Public Safety forensic scientist who tested the drugs in Smith’s case. Rast had left the department before Smith’s case came to trial. Continue reading “Supreme Court to hear appeal over expert testimony in Yuma drug case”
By Taylor Ens
Cronkite News
LOS ANGELES – Every Thursday, people come to the Central Avenue farmers market at E. 43rd Street in downtown Los Angeles to find fresh produce from local growers – bright red tomatoes, vibrant broccoli and crisp cauliflower. The prices might discourage some low-income customers from shopping there, but this market is different.
At this farmers market, run by Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA), some low-income people can afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables that could help make their homes more food-secure, thanks to a special program called Market Match.
EDS: WRITES THRU Friday walkup story to reflect Saturday’s approval of stopgap measure to avert a shutdown, changes tenses throughout. adds details on how Arizona delegation voted on the continuing resolution.
By Renee Romo
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Congress approved a stopgap measure to keep the government open with just hours to spare Saturday night, heading off a shutdown that would have meant the loss of a paycheck for close to 50,000 federal workers and active-duty military in Arizona – and they’re not the only ones who would have felt the pinch.
Government contractors stop getting paid in a shutdown, small businesses could lose sales as nervous consumers cut spending and anyone who needs a government service, from processing a passport application to visiting a national park, would feel the shutdown firsthand. Continue reading “50,000 federal workers, military, in Arizona spared as shutdown averted”
Saludos cordiales,
Aquí encontrarán un listado de los reportajes de Cronkite Noticias del día 29 de septiembre de 2023. Los medios de comunicación que deseen utilizar los videos de Cronkite Noticias los pueden encontrar en versiones limpias. Los guiones y el resto del material puede descargarse aquí en Dropbox. Los reportajes de hoy, junto con sus fotografías y enlaces a elementos multimedia también se distribuirán en nuestro portal de internet para nuestros clientes en cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients.
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YATES: This is The Sweet Spot where we take a closer look at the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona. I’m Benjamin Yates, and welcome to our fourth episode of the Sweet Spot. We are excited to have everyone listening in to the show.
[Music fade in/under] Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: Basketball fever, a – literal – charity drive, a new kind of two-way player”
